Measurement and collection of liquid from patients at hospitals is obtained by use of a catheter inserted into the patient, e.g. into the bladder, said catheter being connected to a measuring vessel or a collection bag for collecting the liquid.
Often the vessel or catheter is fixed connected to a collection bag, which can be emptied by use of a valve in the bottom of the bag. However, it is preferable that the bag can be replaced by a new one when it is full instead of just emptying it. This replacement must be done more than once a day, and it is therefore important that it can be done fairly easily for the nurse in order to reduce his/her workload and to avoid the risk of spillage. Thus, the connection between the bag to be replaced and the other part(s) must be separable and performed without the need of much energy, but it still has to be a proper connection and be completely tight during use.
The characteristics of known hose connections are that they are either to loose and disconnect during use, or are too tight and very difficult to disconnect.
US 2004/0215158 discloses an in-line hose connector for a urinary catheter. The connector has a first part with a hose barb connected to the catheter tube and a second part with a cylindrical opening and a circumferentially extending fastening strap. A projection of the second part fits into a hole on the fastening strap after twisting the pieces and is so shaped as to aid in disengaging the fastening strap from the projection and thus disconnect the parts when a tension force is exerted.
As the connector parts of US 2004/0215158 are both made of a hard plastic, an O-ring between these parts must provide the sealing. Furthermore, the construction is very complicated and expensive as it consists of two moulded parts each having a part of a catheter tube in the end.
Another known hose connection consists of a female tube of a bag being slid over a male tube, the male tube having a plurality of conical shaped protrusions with an increasing diameter so that the male tube is connected to the female tube by means of friction provided due to the increasing diameter. Such a connection provides a good tightening, but it is very difficult to separate without using much energy and without spillage, or it may even not be separable at all.
Other hose connections are disclosed in US 2002/123739, EP 0 901 778, DE 298 18 311, U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,396, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,126.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hose connection between a collection bag and the fluid connection to the patient, which connection is easy to assemble and separate, simpler and thus cheaper to manufacture, while still providing proper tightening during use.